The present invention relates to a method of reducing undesirable side effects of eating certain vegetables (e.g. onion and garlic).
A person eating certain vegetables, such as onion and garlic, typically exhibits malodorous breath and perspiration within a few hours. The digestion of these and other vegetables such as cabbage, cucumber, radish and beans can lead to digestive distress, including burping and flatulence. The malodorous breath and perspiration tend to be caused by sulfur-containing compounds, such as dimethylsulfide, methymercaptan, and hydrogen sulfide. Intestinal distress results from a buildup of these and other gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) in the intestine. The escape of intestinal gases produces burping and flatulence. The passage of such sulfur-containing compounds across the intestinal wall and into the blood stream causes them to be exhaled through the lungs and secreted as sweat, saliva and other bodily fluids.
A variety of techniques have been used for alleviating certain of the undesirable side effects. In general, these techniques are cosmetic and involve masking malodors and other aromas, or removing them from the mouth through chemistry, for example, chlorophyll-containing products. Further, intestinal gas buildup is minimized by facilitating the elimination of microbubbles. These approaches do no change the underlying digestive processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,588 discloses that the residue produced by the removal of water and alcohol from wine or from the alcohol extract of fermentation residue will alleviate the side effects of malodors including that of garlic. The extraction procedures are so harsh that if active enzymes or live yeast were present, their activity would have been severely diminished or destroyed. Moreover, if live yeast or yeast enzymes were present, they would be unprotected from the acidity and proteolytic activity of the stomach and anterior intestine (i.e. the first portions of the duodenum where the stomach acids have not yet been neutralized by the basic secretions of the pancreas).
A grape juice has been sold which ferments at a pH of about 3.2 to 3.6 to produce some wine yeast growth. However, such product, if unprotected, would pass through the stomach to the mid and posterior intestine in an inactive form.
Also, various forms of yeast have been sold as a dietary supplement. For example, brewer's yeast has been sold for that purpose in health food stores. However, it is processed under adverse conditions (e.g. alkaline washing, solvent extractions, and drying conditions) which render it unprotected from the acidity and proteolytic activity of the stomach and anterior intestine, causing inactivity. (Gerald Reed and Henry J. Peppler, Yeast Technology, Westport, Conn., Avi Publishing co., Inc., 1973; in particular, Chapters 5 and 11 and references contained therein).